Clash of the Cheerleaders

by April Marcom

  “It was a tear jerker,” I said, nodding. “Thanks for recommending it to your brother.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “Just between you and me, he can use all the help he can get. He doesn’t know the first thing about girls.”

  I decided I liked Poppy as I laughed, even though Ty had been great so far.

  “All right.” Ty put a hand up. “Hadley’s probably had enough. We’re just going to watch TV in my room.”

  “Oh, honey,” his mom interrupted. “Benjamin’s asleep, too.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Mm-hm. You can watch it out here, though. Poppy can take the girls to play in their room.”

  Lucy grabbed my arm with both hands. “No, I wanna stay with Hadley.” She was so darn cute, I couldn’t have turned her away.

  “All right, come on,” Poppy said. “Ty wants to be alone with Hadley.”

  “Nooo,” Lucy wailed as all three girls went into the hallway, Poppy half-dragging her.

  “She loves new people,” Mrs. Black said. “I’ll just get some laundry put away.” She picked up the laundry basket behind the couch and disappeared into the hallway.

  Ty went to put all the cushions back on the couch.

  I put the last one back on and sat down right in the middle. “Your family seems nice.”

  Ty sat next to me and clicked on the TV with the remote. “Yeah, my sisters are just really loud most of the time.”

  “Wheel—of—Fortune,” the audience on TV shouted.

  “You like this show?” Ty asked.

  “Sure.” I hadn’t actually seen it in a few years, but I used to watch it with my dad. We always loved the classic game shows—Wheel of Fortune, Price is Right, Family Feud. Hollywood Squares was his all-time favorite.

  Ty set the remote on the armrest beside him and laid his other arm over the back of the couch. As I leaned against his side and played in my head along with the contestants on TV, my chest felt like it was filling with warm water. It felt good, like the world was slowing down so I could really enjoy that moment.

  “I’d like to solve,” a woman said as I looked over at Ty, admiring his shiny black eyes and dark, dark lashes. He returned my gaze. “Running a marathon.”

  “Let’s see, is she correct? She is!”

  The audience applauded as Ty grinned in a way that made my heart do a flip flop. Again, I wondered what it would be like to kiss him.

  “AAHHH!” Lucy screamed, fleeing the hallway and throwing herself over the back of the couch. She slammed into my side and made me scream a little bit, too. “Don’t let her get me,” Lucy said, holding something against her chest.

  “Give it back!” Kelly stormed in next.

  “I had it first.”

  “Would you two shut up?!” a groggy little boy’s voice shouted from somewhere down the hall.

  Poppy emerged next. “Lucy, that’s Kelly’s. You have to give it back.”

  “No, no, no.”

  Ty patted my shoulder before he stood up. I stood up, too, leaving plenty of room for Kelly to hop on the couch and wrestle with Lucy over the little notebook.

  Mrs. Black looked panicked when she emerged from the hallway. “Girls, calm down; you’ll wake your father.”

  Ty led me to the door made up of little glass squares in the back of the room. “Why don’t we head outside?”

  “But it’s pouring down rain out there.” I stared at him like he was crazy. “My shoes will get soaking wet.” And they’ll get squeaky and my feet will be sliding all over the place.

  “So leave them in here. We’ll just be going out on the deck.”

  I stared through the little windows, unable to see anything in the dark night aside from raindrops falling steadily against the panes. An image of him as a psycho-killer popped back into my head. “So you just want to go out there and stand in the rain?”

  “Beats being stuck in here with this.”

  We watched Mrs. Black hand Kelly the notebook and drag Lucy screaming all the way to a kitchen chair, where she had to sit in timeout. Her wailing was starting to give me a serious headache.

  “Be quiet, Lucy,” the boy shouted again.

  Mrs. Black started scolding her. Lucy screamed louder. It was so high-pitched, I had to squint my eyes and fight not to cover my ears. Everything was so chaotic and stressful, standing outside in the rain was almost starting to sound like fun.

  “My hair will be ruined,” I blurted out. I never let anyone see me with it all kinked up.

  “I don’t care what your hair looks like.” Ty laughed as he knelt to unbuckle my shoes. Then he took his phone from his pocket to pull up an app before he opened the backdoor. “Come outside with me.”

  The cold water splashing against my bare toes was uncomfortable, but Lucy’s crying was worse. A cranky-looking man in Dallas Cowboys pajamas stumbled into the room next.

  I told myself to just suck it up—the date needed to take a bad turn so I wouldn’t like Ty so much, anyway—stepped out of my shoes, and ran into the chilling downpour.

  13

  Instinctively, I ducked and threw my arms over my face. The first few seconds were awful, but my body began to adjust.

  I peeked out from under an arm and watched Ty set his cell phone on a small ledge just inside where the roof reached beyond his house. A woman singing a sweet, old love song played from the little speaker.

  Ty walked past me to a pitch-black corner of the deck. “Come over here so your eyes can adjust.”

  I walked toward his voice slowly with my arms out in front of me, completely blind, until he grabbed my hand and pulled me against him. Up close, I could make out his face, farther away from mine now that I wasn’t wearing my stilettos.

  The song was harder to hear mingled with the sound of rain pattering against trees in the yard and the wood beneath our feet.

  “May I have this dance?” Ty asked me, putting his hands on my lower back.

  I was too taken aback to answer. Without waiting for a reply, he began swaying back and forth to the music.

  I laid my hands against his shoulders and moved my body with his. This is crazy, I thought, dancing with Ty Black, barefoot in the rain, with my hair plastered to the sides of my face. It was absolutely the last thing I would have ever expected. But it was also perfect. Even the chill of the wet night wasn’t enough to make me want it to end.

  The warm, liquidy feeling grew inside me as I tried thinking of a plan to get him to kiss me. I didn’t just wonder what it would be like anymore. I wanted to know, badly.

  “You were wrong,” Ty said. I could see his face clearly now, smiling down at mine.

  “About what?”

  “Your hair didn’t get ruined. It’s beautiful.”

  “So’s yours.” His sleek hair hung down around his face and dripped raindrops onto me. I shivered, so he hugged me close, still dancing. I closed my eyes and rested my head against him. The music stopped, but still, we danced. Slowly. Purposefully.

  Crazy and perfect. There was simply no other way to describe the night.

  Ty stepped back a few minutes later when I shivered again.

  “No.” I moved with him. This crazy, perfect night couldn’t be over yet. Being with him was too wonderful in a world of peer pressure and judgy teenagers. Standing there, dripping wet and feeling so carefree, all that was forgotten.

  Ty turned to face me, reaching for one of my hands. “You’re getting cold, Hadley.”

  “I’m fine.” And how was he not even a little bit cold? His black, button-up shirt had short sleeves.

  Ty leaned into me again before he danced once more. I reached around him and slid one hand into his hair. This had to be it. There could never be a better moment for a first kiss.

  It didn’t last long, though. I had to squint when dazzling light suddenly shot all over Ty’s face. Blinding whiteness flooded the deck. The backdoor opened and Mrs. Black poked her head out, staring at us in alarm. I jumped back away from Ty, feeling like I’d just been bu
sted committing a felony. We probably looked pretty suspicious out there alone in the dark.

  “What in the world are you doing out here?” she said. “I’ve been looking for you two for the last ten minutes.”

  “You know, just hanging out away from the screaming and fighting,” Ty said with a shrug.

  “Well—it’s ten-thirty now. I was going to see if Hadley wanted a ride home so she didn’t have to get wet on your motorcycle, but it looks like it’s a little late for that.” She raised an eyebrow at us. I couldn’t decide if she thought we were complete weirdos or if she was just trying to keep a straight face.

  “It’s all right, Mom. I’ll take her home.” Ty walked toward the door.

  His mom shook her head. “No way are you tracking water all over the carpet. You can meet me in the garage.”

  “Okay, but can you take my phone inside?” Ty pointed to the ledge where he’d left his cell.

  Her eyes got a little bit wider. She muttered, “I’m not even going to ask,” as she stretched her arm out, just barely able to reach it, and took it inside.

  “Is she mad?” I asked once the door had closed.

  “Nah.” Ty took my hand and led me across the deck, down a few steps, and back into darkness. We moved slowly so our eyes could adjust.

  I wasn’t convinced I was in the clear with his mom. The outside world was beginning to trickle in, though, so I told myself it didn’t matter, anyway. I would probably never see her again. There could never be another date with her son.

  The garage light was still on when we rounded his house and took a side door into it. No mom yet.

  Ty went to grab a white, paint-splattered hoodie from a work table littered with saw dust and tools. “It’s a little dusty, but it won’t hurt your clothes if you want to wear it to keep warm.” He held it out to me.

  I hadn’t worn anything so ghastly and unfashionable since elementary school, and if he was anyone else, I would have said no. But I took it from him and put it on. “Thanks,” I wiped some water off my eyes and smeared mascara all over the hoody’s sleeve. “I must look like a swamp beast,” I said, embarrassed.

  “More like the girl of my dreams.”

  I took in a deep breath. Stars filled my eyes as he leaned over to kiss my forehead. I would kill Nicole for this.

  “Okay,” Mrs. Black walked into the garage carrying the biggest Ziploc bag I’d ever seen, zipped shut with my purse and shoes inside. “Your things should stay dry in here, but I’m not sure it’ll fit under the seat. She pulled up the long black seat on Ty’s bike and barely managed to get my stuff in the little storage space underneath it. “Be careful, Ty. I don’t like you driving in the rain, but I prefer not to have mold growing inside my car.”

  “We’ll be fine.” Ty half-hugged his mom to spare getting her wet. Then he pressed the button to lift the squeaky garage door, picked up our helmets, and handed me one.

  “It was nice to meet you, Hadley,” his mom said as Ty climbed onto his bike. “Maybe you could come over for dinner sometime.”

  “Maybe.”

  I climbed on the bike behind Ty, hoping a direct invitation for dinner wasn’t coming. Thankfully, the engine underneath us roared to life and then we started rolling backwards out of the garage.

  The rain kept up all the way back to my house. The high-speed winds we cut through began to make me seriously freezing. By the time we got to my house, my teeth were chattering. I managed to control it as Ty parked the bike and put his arm around my neck.

  He grabbed my things and walked me to the front door. Then he turned to face me and I wondered if he would finally kiss me. “So, I had fun tonight,” Ty said.

  “Me, too.” I shoved my hair over my shoulders with the long, floppy sleeves hanging past my hands.

  “I hope the rain didn’t ruin the night for you.”

  “Not at all.” This is getting awkward. Why does it have to be getting awkward?

  “I guess I’ll see you around school?”

  “Sure.”

  “Well—see ya.” He handed me the bag of my things, turned, and walked back down the walkway.

  That’s it? My jaw dropped. I thought the night had gone perfectly, and here I felt like he’d just stiffed me. It stung.

  I opened my door and let the warmth in my chest spill out all over the doorstep on my way inside. It was so stupid—just a dare with a creepy guy I didn’t like at all. So why did it hurt so badly?

  I shut the door behind me and stared at the floor. Water dripped off me and started to collect in a puddle around my feet. A furious shiver shot through my body. “What did I do wrong?” I asked my lonesome house.

  I jumped when I heard the knob turn behind me and the front door creak open. Suddenly Ty was turning me to face him so he could wrap his arms around my back and kiss me.

  A fresh surge of warmth filled my core until it burst and spilled into the rest of me. Crazy and perfect, I kept thinking.

  Ty lifted his head. “I wanted to do that all night,” he said.

  “Me, too.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes.”

  “Sorry I was such a chicken.” We both laughed.

  “It’s all right.”

  “Let me take you out tomorrow. I want to see you again.”

  “I’ll be at Nicole’s.”

  “I’ll be out of town Sunday. Next week?”

  A second date. I knew I should say no; I just didn’t want to. “Absolutely.”

  “All right. Next week then.” He kissed me once more before he left.

  I laughed, because I couldn’t believe it, any of it.

  “Hadley, did I hear you come in?” my mom called from upstairs.

  “In here, Mom.” I went to the kitchen to get a coke from the fridge.

  Her feet pounded down the stairs. “How’d it go, Ha—” My mom stopped short when she walked in the kitchen and saw me. “What, did you have to walk home? You could’ve called me, for goodness sakes! What kind of guy leaves a girl stranded—”

  “I didn’t walk home, Mom. Ty drove me here on his bike. And our date was—amazing.” I smiled just thinking about it.

  And I decided right then and there I was going on as many dates with him as I wanted, no matter what Nicole said.

  14

  “Hadley!” Nicole practically shouted.

  My five besties and I were sitting on our sleeping bags in Nicole’s bedroom Saturday night, giving each other mani-pedis. It was the final step before we took individual and group photos for our Smokin’ Six website. Nicole wanted to make sure we updated it on a regular basis with all our latest statistics, information, and pics. While I thought it was way too conceited, it was a lot of fun to get made over for a photo shoot, and Nicole said it was mandatory.

  My big break-up with Blaine had been posted the night before, making it absolutely official. I doubted Nicole would ever allow Ty on our site, if it did get that serous.

  “Hadley, snap out of it!” Nicole said.

  “Sorry.” I looked at the black swirls all over my pink nails. “They look great.”

  “Of course they do. Now tell me what happened with Ty. He took you to dinner and a movie and it went fine doesn’t tell us anything.”

  “Yeah,” Brittany said. “Did his mom drive you around? Did he hold your hand? Did he try to kiss you?”

  Steph screwed the top closed on her nail polish. Zaniah set hers down. Everyone stared at me.

  “Something must have happened,” Nicole said. “You’ve been spaced out since you got here. And you keep changing the subject.”

  “I told you it went fine. He drove me around on his motorcycle. He’s got a job working with his dad. And did you know they painted my house while we were at cheer camp this summer?”

  “Stop doing that! Was he a gentleman or a jerk? Did he take you out to eat somewhere fancy or to a fast food restaurant? Details, Hadley.”

  I let out a big breath. “He took me to Petee’s Cove. Then we watched Raging
Love. Ty’s probably one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met.”

  “Raging Love?” Steph perked up. “Brittany and I saw that last weekend. I bawled through the whole thing. Did you curl up on Ty’s shoulder and cry all over him?”

  “Sort of. He was so super sweet, just like the soldier in the movie.”

  “Why would you want to go to that movie with him?” Nicole asked.

  “It was his idea, actually.”

  “For real?” Lavender asked. “I wanted to see that with Michael and he flat-out refused.”

  “Still, I dared you to go on a date with the freak. You didn’t have to pretend to like the guy,” Nicole fussed.

  “Well—I kind of do like him,” I said.

  “No.”

  “Aw,” Brittany, Steph, and Zaniah said.

  “Hadley, no! A cheerleader can’t like a guy like that.”

  “But, what does it matter if he makes her happy?” Lavender said timidly. “She deserves it after Blaine.” It still hurt to hear his name.

  “And Ty Black is pretty cute,” Zaniah said.

  “Who cares?” Nicole said. “She’s too good for him. End of discussion.”

  She was wrong. And I was still going out with him again. The night before was the first time I completely forgot about Blaine. In fact, I’d been so caught up daydreaming about the wonderful date Ty and I had, Blaine hadn’t crossed my mind at all until Lavender mentioned him.

  Nicole’s phone rang on the sleeping bag beside her just then, a welcome distraction from the conversation. She tapped her phone twice, putting it on speaker, then held a hand out to me. I picked up the dark night sky bottle of purple nail polish I was planning to paint her fingernails with as she said, “Hello.”

  “Hello. Is this Nicole?”

  We all lifted an eyebrow at each other, wondering who the guy was on the other end of the line.

  “That depends. Who’s this?” Nicole asked.

  “Bryan—from home ec. Just calling to see if you want to go out tonight.”

  “Ugh,” she groaned. “How did you get this number?”

  “It wasn’t easy, but I’d say you’re worth it.”